Chapter 23 A Fleeting Romance: Don't Show Off in Front of Others...
A light, cloud-like veil spread across the bed. Xiao Huaiyuan propped himself up, encircling Fu Ming beneath him, their bodies only an inch apart. The two maintained this ambiguous posture in silence until the muscles in Fu Ming's back suddenly tensed.
Fu Ming whispered, "They're here."
Ta-da!
Five or six soldiers squeezed into the cramped inn. The fragile wooden floorboards creaked under the weight, making one worry that they might collapse at any moment.
To avoid attracting attention, Fu Ming deliberately traveled to many locations in the east, west, north, and south of Yongcheng before his arrival, leaving behind a large number of traces of spiritual energy.
But it seems they had already searched almost everything before finally arriving here at dawn.
The inn's doors were kicked open one after another, and the soldiers' rough shouts came from afar.
"Everyone inside, get out!"
"Come out, everyone. What are you dawdling about?"
The soundproofing at Yingfu Inn wasn't very good. Even with his head buried in the blankets, Fu Ming could hear the noise from the next room. First, there was a string of curses mixed with local dialect, then a loud crash of tables and chairs falling to the ground, and then a long silence. It must have been the soldiers who subdued them with their fists.
Therefore, when they reached Xiao Huaiyuan's room deep in the corridor, these burly men, used to being domineering, became even more violent.
The entire door was kicked down, sending up years of accumulated dust that filled the whole room.
Amidst the rising dust, the soldiers shouted at the top of their lungs, "The city lord's mansion is investigating a case. You two on the bed, lift your heads!"
"no……"
A low, husky voice, tinged with laughter, echoed in the room, tickling everyone's hearts like a cat's scratch.
"Hey, answer me, are you harboring any suspects?"
When the smoke and dust cleared and the bright sunlight shone into the house, they were finally able to catch a glimpse of the two people's true faces.
A strikingly tall and beautiful woman lay on her side in the quilt, her dark hair disheveled, her fragrant shoulders partially exposed. Her face was obscured by another man's sleeve, revealing only a small portion of her delicate profile.
Sensing the stares of everyone, he instead put his arm around the shoulder of the person behind him, not sparing even a glance for anyone else, and said with a reproachful smile:
"Be gentle."
Looking at the tall man, he had a dignified appearance with thick eyebrows and deep-set eyes, but his collar was wide open and there were several faint scratch marks on his chest muscles.
This scene is truly suggestive. It's obvious that they interrupted the two's good time. Look at those thick arms around their waists, tsk tsk, they might have just been enjoying a passionate encounter.
The officers and soldiers intended to make some teasing remarks, but they were captivated by a pair of eyes as black as night.
Xiao Huaiyuan opened his mouth and said, "Have you seen enough? Get lost."
For some unknown reason, these powerful soldiers suddenly felt dizzy and lightheaded.
In their dizziness, they knelt down and kowtowed to the two men, then started walking away in a daze. It wasn't until they had walked three miles that they realized something was wrong: what were they trying to do?
On the bed, Fu Ming, caught up in his dramatic mood, burst into uncontrollable laughter under the covers, his butterfly-like shoulder blades trembling incessantly.
He laughed and smugly said, "Hahahaha, look how well I acted!"
Xiao Huaiyuan simply tucked his disheveled hair behind his ear: "Don't show that expression in front of others in the future."
Fu Ming did not take Xiao Huaiyuan's warning to heart. He was not a cultivator of the ruthless path, so what was wrong with pretending to be confused and infatuated?
This man was completely oblivious to the fact that he was pretending to be a girl. He was holding an old booklet and lying sprawled on the headboard, his gauze skirt piled up at his waist, revealing his plump thighs.
"I must thank you, shopkeeper, for the erotic picture book."
Fu Ming, a straight man, was diligently flipping through the erotic pictures that the shopkeeper had kindly given him. Before transmigrating, he was busy preparing for exams, but after transmigrating to this world, he was either cultivating or being hunted down. He had no nightlife that an adult should have.
Seeing his licentious attitude, Xiao Huaiyuan did not say anything to remind him, but suddenly pulled the erotic picture book away when he was about to turn to the Longyang chapter.
Fu Ming was taken aback. This was the first time he had been caught looking at such a picture, and he had no choice but to stare at Xiao Huaiyuan.
What's wrong with Xiao Huaiyuan? Why is he so controlling of his apprentice?
Gazing into Xiao Huaiyuan's deep eyes for a long time, Fu Ming felt as if his soul was about to drown in them. A strange inspiration flashed through his mind, and he suddenly said:
"Since you have a method to confuse memories, why not just use it directly instead of going through all this trouble..."
...
"The teleportation array is ready, but the troops that have been transferred may return within the time it takes to brew a cup of tea. We need to set off immediately to avoid any unforeseen complications."
Fu Ming's suspicions deepened. Xiao Huaiyuan had always been a man of few words and didn't like to explain his orders in detail. So why did he suddenly spill out so many irrelevant things when asked?
However, before he could figure it out, he and Xiao Huaiyuan suddenly appeared in the shopkeeper's room.
The instant teleportation array at the Nascent Soul stage is truly useful.
The innkeeper's room remained eerie, with not a single window in sight, resembling a coffin. She led Fu Ming and the other man into a dark room, which was no more than three feet wide, forcing the two tall men to walk back to back, their bare skin pressed together, burning hot.
She held a white candle, shining it back and forth in front of Fu Ming, and frowned.
"Why is your hair so messy... Fine, just tell outsiders you're from Tianxianglou, understand?"
"My father's surname is Yun. When you inquire, tell him my given name is Wu Xue. You can't say anything else. Be smart."
Shopkeeper Wu didn't explain anything to Xiao Huaiyuan. He just took out a razor blade and made a cut on the magic pattern on his elbow. A few drops of blood fell to the ground, and the bloodstains quickly spread into a Bagua diagram.
Servant's Magic Array.
Fu Ming and Xiao Huaiyuan exchanged a glance, both recognizing the unique nature of this teleportation array. Logically, only cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage or above could draw and activate such arrays; the higher the cultivation level and the stronger the divine soul, the faster the array could be used.
However, if a powerful individual with a soul strength reaching the Nascent Soul stage sets up the main array with their own heart's blood, then their servants below the Foundation Establishment stage can also drive the sub-arrays with their blood.
In ancient times, before sects became the mainstream, groups of cultivators continued in the form of families, raising children and grandchildren, recruiting servants, and using servant contract arrays to exchange for the loyalty of their servants.
Nowadays, all sects, large and small, can impart the Great Dao and teach people cultivation. Since one can become a legitimate disciple of a prestigious sect, naturally no one wants to become a servant of a family.
Ji, Jiang, Si, Ying, Yun, Gui, Ji, Yao... Fu Ming used his excellent memory from last-minute cramming to recall the surnames of the eight ancient clans. This surname, Yun, seems to have a deep connection with the Yun clan.
Fu Ming flicked his fingers and wrote the character "Yun" stroke by stroke on Xiao Huaiyuan's palm. The latter seemed to be a little ticklish, and his knuckles curled up slightly.
Therefore, this so-called Lord Yun must be a descendant of an ancient aristocratic family.
What was he doing running the ghost market in Yongcheng for so many years?
What does this have to do with his mission?
Fu Ming poked the system he had neglected for a long time: "Come out and check the mission."
The system, with tears streaming down its face, cried out: "Dear host, I thought you'd forgotten about your essential little assistant, System, now that you have Xiao Huaiyuan! Waaah—"
...What does it mean to forget the system after having Xiao Huaiyuan? What was the original quote again? Oh, it's like forgetting your mother after having a wife.
Suddenly, he mentally tossed the tattered book containing the system into the air. Xiao Huaiyuan was not his wife, and the system was not his mother.
Although it doesn't feel any pain, the system, which is flying freely in the air, still sheds two noodle-like tears:
"Woo woo, the search for you has been completed. The 【Ghost Market Mystery】quest belongs to the poverty alleviation line, and the quest location is 【Yongcheng】. Currently, quest 1, protecting the target's safety, has been completed, and quest 2, entering the Ghost Market, is 80% complete. Please note that our system's purpose is to serve the people, dear."
Demonic cultivators like him, righteous sects like the Heavenly Evolution Sect, the ancient holy clan represented by Lord Yun, and the newly powerful families behind Elder Chen—what does this complex gathering of forces have to do with poverty alleviation?
As the teleportation array operated, Fu Ming stared blankly into thought. Fang Xiaoquan and Fang Xiaohui were indeed impoverished children. He hadn't had a chance to ask the shopkeeper what the city lord wanted to do with them. Surely it couldn't really be to expel illegal immigrants.
The ancient magic array was indeed unstable.
The flickering light swirled and the chaotic, turbulent spiritual energy pushed and shoved them. After more than a day of turmoil in Yongcheng, they never expected to be defeated by a small teleportation array. Fu Ming staggered out of the array.
He felt like throwing up.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Xiao Huaiyuan quietly grasped his slender wrist with its distinct bones, as if he were just trying to help him stabilize his posture.
Seeing the deep red color at the corners of Fu Ming's eyes, which were streaked with rouge, he couldn't help but recall the glamorous appearance he had glimpsed when he was taking care of his senior brother at the sect leader's peak a while ago—how wonderful it would be if those days could last longer.
After some time of trial and error, he figured out Fu Ming's bottom line. Although he had the keen intuition of a small animal, he knew nothing about matters of love between men. No matter how intimate the actions were, he could always explain it away as pretending to be lovers.
His senior brother was unaware of his feelings, and he never expected that this would turn out to be a good thing today.
Xiao Huaiyuan chuckled almost imperceptibly.
Fu Ming found a wall to lean against, covered his face with his hand, and kept dry heaving.
vomit……
He remembered that in his previous life he never got motion sickness on airplanes, high-speed trains, or cars, so why did he get motion sickness from teleportation arrays in the cultivation world?
Suddenly, Xiao Huaiyuan pulled his left hand, and he landed perfectly in Xiao Huaiyuan's arms.
The listless Fu Ming asked softly, "What's wrong?"
Xiao Huaiyuan gave him a wink, and Fu Ming followed his gaze. Whether it was fate or just bad luck, the young master of the city lord's mansion surnamed Gu had somehow ended up in the Ghost Market.
It was broad daylight, and most of the doors to the ghost market pavilions were closed, while the palace lanterns on the eaves remained unlit. There weren't many idlers wandering the streets to begin with, and Fu Ming, dressed in a bright crimson gauze robe, stood out like a splash of red amidst a sea of green.
"Hey, you young lady from Tianxiang Pavilion over there, Young Master Gu wants you to come over."
It turns out he's an acquaintance; isn't he the stableman downstairs at the Zhichun Restaurant the other day?
Forget it, I'll just find an open shop and hide inside.
Fu Ming pulled the larger Xiao Huaiyuan in front of him to block his view, but in reality, he quickly fled. He was thinking of sneaking into the pawnshop when a gold and jade folding fan blocked his way.
Upon catching a glimpse of Fu Ming's face, Young Master Gu shrieked in a flippant manner.
"So it was you!"
The shopkeeper tricked me; he said no one would recognize him.
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Author's Note: Waaaaaah, I finally finished it! I'm going to send small red envelopes to everyone in the comments section. Sorry for the long wait!
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